trigger warning : mentions of child neglect, mental illness, slight homophobia (briefly mentioned), panic attacks, fear of rejection

William Donovan is a seventeen-year-old hyperactive, anxious, football player who just happens to be failing chemistry class due to a low attention span.

William was well known within the school, however, people didn't know anything about him as William was an introverted person. He often suffered from social anxiety and ADHD. 

He often stayed away from attention unless it was football games. William's position in football was a running back. He also occasionally participated in track and field or cross country.

However, he didn't like the attention towards him. After games, he would quickly leave the school before people started attempting to talk to him.

Talking to people wasn't his strong suit. If he wasn't comfortable around the person or used to them he would try his hardest to avoid speaking to them.

But, if he truly did have to talk he would make it extremely quick and would be quiet. William was a naturally louder person once you got to know him but, around strangers, he was insanely quiet. Complete personality change.

Whereas Tim Drake, a famous, depressed, insomnia, coffee addict, sixteen-year-old, with a life-changing secret. He's the guy everyone knows and notices when he enters the room.

The type of guy girls fall for. The type they let their hearts get broken for. However, he isn't the biggest fan of fame. Yet, his life revolves around interviews, galas, billionaires, and news reporters. 

You would never expect someone as quiet and anxious as William to become friends with a guy whose life is based around fame and fortune.

However, it was the Chemistry teacher who brought them together and helped create something beautiful yet heartbreaking.

William Donovan was passing every single class except for his Chemistry class. His ADHD barely acted up during school, unless he forgot to take his medication in the morning. But, every time he walked into his Chemistry classroom his medication just stopped working.

William found it very irritating but then easily got distracted by a poster hanging up on the wall or something outside or even someone in the classroom. As much as it irritated William, it irritated his teacher even more.

Mrs. Tate was a usually kind older lady in her mid-thirties, very patient. She often helped William with his assignments or homework. Lately, she has been busy grading and teaching a whole new class, so she hasn't had much time to help William.

This is exactly why she gave him a new partner, someone who was as patient as her. Someone who understood everything she was saying. Someone who could easily help William. That person was Tim Drake.

William's "old" partner was one of his only friends, Valerie Parker. Valerie was a loud person and could be described as a bitch to some people. When you get to know her, Valerie is a very kind and forgiving person.

Some could say it was her best and worst trait. She was the only person William completely trusted. She knew everything about him.

 Many people often thought Valerie and William were dating. However, Valerie was attracted to women, making her a lesbian and Will was gay, but he was in the closet with only Valerie and his parents knowing. Valerie on the other hand was out of the closet.

Many people knew, some hated her for being attracted to the same sex, others respected her. She only cared about her parents and Will's opinion.

William and Valerie grew up together. They knew everything about each other. Valerie knew about William's father, Marcus, neglecting him while his mother, Mallory, did nothing. William's parents argued daily, Mallory was debating on bringing up a divorce, not knowing the future consequences or how William felt. 

He often ran away to seek comfort from Valerie when his parents' arguments got louder and more hurtful. The environment wasn't the greatest for William's mental health, mostly his social anxiety, but overall caused harm to William.

He knew some people would make a big deal out of it so he didn't plan on telling everyone. It was none of their business and he appreciated his privacy. He did leave subtle hints involving his sexuality.

Valerie got him a pride braided bracelet which Will always wore except during the football game. Yet, nobody commented on it. They all assumed Will wore it to show his support to Valerie. However, he wore it because he's gay.

The only person able to figure it out would be his new Chemistry partner, Tim Drake. The sixteen-year-old genius with an IQ of 142 is the only one to realize. William is not surprised since Drake is considered a genius.

Over time, William learned to love that about Tim, it was one of the many things he learned to love. He loved yet hated how Tim knew him like the back of his hand. Will sometimes hated that but he knew he could talk to Tim about anything, same for Tim.

Tim loved that William understood how he felt. They understood each other better than anyone else. They both knew how it felt to be neglected, or how mental illnesses felt like.

Tim knew his brothers would never fully understand how Tim felt the majority of the time but they tried their best, even Stephanie couldn't even understand. 

However, Steph understood one of Tim's problems. Towards the end of their relationship, well the thing that caused their relationship to end, she saw Tim checking out other guys and she immediately understood why Tim has been distanced.

She knew Tim was trying to figure himself out, so she let him. She broke up with him, she told him why and that if he needed to talk about it she was there for him. 

Tim was grateful that Steph was understanding, she never forced him to talk about it, she let him take his own time. Tim talked about it a couple of times with Steph, still figuring it out.

She suggested talking to one of his older brothers, Dick Grayson or Jason Todd, as Dick is bisexual, meaning they liked men and women, and Jason is pansexual, meaning he doesn't care about gender.

However, Tim was scared, terrified even, he knew they wouldn't judge him, make a few jokes sure, but he didn't know how to mention it to them. The early stages of Tim's life started off with him being neglected and judged.

That's most likely why Tim constantly seeks approval from either his brothers, teachers, friends, Alfred, and even Bruce. Tim always tries to show how smart he is just to get attention or to get someone to be proud of him.

Even when he knew he wasn't going to be judged he just could not physically get the words to come out of his mouth. So, Tim chose not to. He decided to wait till the time was right. The perfect time was when he got a new Chemistry partner, William Donovan.

They didn't know that they would fall for each other. They didn't know that eventually, they would have to come out to their family. Both attraction to men only. Both only told their girl best friend, Valerie Parker and Stephanie Brown. Both experience mental illnesses and child neglect. So, similar yet so different.

They fell in love but that type of love couldn't even be described as love, it was more than just love. They were soulmates, each other's better halves. They were made for each other. However, it took them a while to figure it out.

 Everyone else figured it out before William and Tim. But, that's the beauty of love, you don't realize it until something happens that forces you to realize it. Everyone but the people in love figure it out before you do.

Nobody expected love to come from a Chemistry classroom.

It's ironic how two people with the best Chemistry fall in love in a Chemistry class

I would like to thank everyone who took the time to read this! Once again credits to the original artists, they are very talented people, who made the fan art, I just made the banner not the actual fan art. Hope you all have a good day!